This blog series features different Knerds explaining problems, concepts, equations, and projects that pertain to their work at Knewton. In this video, former South Bronx middle school English teacher, Jesse Sternberg talks about the challenges of implementing data-driven differentiated instruction and how the experience has shaped his work here at Knewton.

]]>http://www.knewton.com/blog/education-videos/knerds-board-making-sense-analytics/feed/0The Knewton Knowledge Graph: A Cross-Disciplinary Approachhttp://www.knewton.com/blog/adaptive-learning/the-knewton-knowledge-graph-a-cross-disciplinary-approach/
http://www.knewton.com/blog/adaptive-learning/the-knewton-knowledge-graph-a-cross-disciplinary-approach/#commentsWed, 06 Feb 2013 15:00:30 +0000http://www.knewton.com/?p=61148Read more]]>It’s an unavoidable problem in traditional classrooms: teachers, in the challenging position of teaching a class of 30 students or more with a wide variety of abilities and needs, are struggling to understand exactly what those needs and abilities are and to provide the instruction that will be most helpful for each student.

Knewton is working hard to solve this problem. In particular, we on the Knewton Adaptive Instruction Team have worked to create a system that assesses the needs of each individual student and serves him or her the learning experience he or she needs at exactly the right time.

To do this, we use the Knewton knowledge graph, a cross-disciplinary graph of academic concepts. Within the knowledge graph, concepts have prerequisite relationships that help define a student’s path through the course. Special relationships that define content as either “instructional” or “assessment” determine what kind of content to deliver to students at any given point. Knewton recommendations steer students on personalized and even cross-disciplinary paths on the Knowledge Graph towards ultimate learning objectives based on both what they know and how they learn. (For more about how cross-disciplinary learning paths are enhanced by continuous adaptivity and network effects, download our white paper on the science behind recommendation.)

Our team is always working to enhance the graph’s capacity to make fine-tuned recommendations for all the courses it powers. Often, this simply involves helping partners build graphs that better represent their content, but sometimes it can involve making changes to the nature of the graphing process itself on our end in order to ensure that the process is attuned to and capable of capturing the idiosyncrasies of a range of content domains.

Recently, we have used the latter process to help solve another challenge that inhibits learning in today’s classrooms. Since each subject in a traditional school requires a different teacher with the correct area of expertise, the various subjects are presented to students as being far more distinct and separate from each other than they actually are. Extensive studies show that students benefit in many ways from a cross-disciplinary approach, but practical concerns often get in the way. A history teacher might notice that her students’ essays suffer more from a lack of basic writing skills than from a lack of understanding of the historical facts, but she can’t suspend her own curriculum to teach those skills (even if she’s qualified to do so) and she can’t ask the English teacher to revisit them in his class, because he has to get his class through Hamlet by the end of the week. (It is true that some schools are advancing cross-disciplinary instruction and encouraging teachers of different disciplines to plan their curricula together; however, these schools are the exception, not the rule.)

Knewton’s goal is to link multiple subjects into one huge knowledge graph, rather than creating several separate ones in parallel. Generally, the process of graphing involves asking ourselves questions about the content at hand. If we’re looking at a section of a history book, for example, we would ask ourselves what other historical facts and concepts a student must understand in order to contextualize the new content. To create an interdisciplinary graph, we would ask questions like, “What reading level is necessary to parse out all the important details in this section?” and “What understanding of fractions and percentages is necessary to read the pie chart on page 145?”

The goal of this approach is to ensure that students possess the skills and knowledge they need to tackle the learning experience we recommend for them. We also hope that this will prove to be a helpful tool for educators to develop holistic curricula and collaborate effectively with their peers teaching other subjects. We hope that those who have not begun to approach learning in this way will now find it easier to begin to do so and that those who have already been struggling with these issues will see us a valuable ally.

]]>http://www.knewton.com/blog/adaptive-learning/the-knewton-knowledge-graph-a-cross-disciplinary-approach/feed/0Constructivist Teaching: A Primerhttp://www.knewton.com/blog/teacher-tools/constructivist-teaching-a-primer/
http://www.knewton.com/blog/teacher-tools/constructivist-teaching-a-primer/#commentsMon, 10 Sep 2012 14:00:25 +0000http://www.knewton.com/?p=55568Read more]]>I’ve been a course developer at Knewton for just over 2 years. Prior to that, I served as a New York Teaching Fellow and completed my Masters in Education at Fordham University, where I wrote my thesis paper on the effects of teachers’ epistemological beliefs on the successful implementation of student-centered teaching practices.

A few weeks ago, I decided to share some of my knowledge on the subject of student-centered or “constructivist” teaching with my colleagues here at Knewton in a lunch-time “brown bag” presentation. The following post covers approximately the first half of my presentation, with a second part to follow.

Put as simply as possible, constructivism is a philosophy of education that views knowledge as being actively constructed within the mind of the student with the teacher’s guidance, rather than passed directly from teacher to student. Its roots are not just in pedagogy and educational psychology, but in epistemology—the branch of philosophy concerned with defining the nature of knowledge.

What does constructivism have to say about knowledge? I find it easiest to list four things that constructivism says are not true about knowledge:

1. Knowledge is not just a collection of facts.

High-level knowledge comes from synthesis, application, and evaluation of facts; it is a whole greater than the sum of its parts. A piece of high-level knowledge is not equivalent to a bunch of facts any more than a house is equivalent to a pile of bricks.

2. Knowledge does not live in a box.

While there are facts in the external world that contribute to knowledge (or we can assume so for now, leaving ontology for another post), knowledge only exists inside the minds of human beings.

Many people quickly grasp that the knowledge they wish for students to master lies in their own minds rather than anywhere external to themselves, but this often leads to two other fallacies: that students are “blank slates” waiting to be filled with knowledge, and that knowledge can be simply handed off from teacher to student.

3. Students are not blank slates.

Everyone forms their own idea of the world, called a schema, based on their experiences. Even a 3-year-old entering preschool has a schema based on 3 years worth of sensory and social experiences that makes up his/her understanding of his/her environment. People do not simply push their old ideas out when they absorb new ones; they adapt their schema to make them fit, often twisting new information to fit a schema that is poorly formed.

4. Knowledge cannot simply be handed off.

Simple facts like “Carson City is the capital of Nevada” can simply be told to a learner by a teacher, and the learner’s knowledge of such facts can be assessed by simply having them repeat the fact or answer a straightforward question like “What is the capital of Nevada?”

Complex pieces of knowledge like “a variety of social and economic factors lead to the decline of Feudalism in Europe” cannot be so easily handed off, and the ability to repeat such statements or answer questions such as “What led to the decline of Feudalism in Europe?” based on memorization (“Why, a variety of social and economic factors, of course!”) does not demonstrate true mastery of the given piece of knowledge.

Example:

A classic example used by professors of education to demonstrate points 3 and 4 has to do with students’ common misunderstanding of what causes the seasons on Earth. Equipped with a schema that includes the knowledge that the Earth revolves around the Sun, many students develop the idea that the Earth’s orbit is highly elliptical, with summer occurring when it is closer to the sun and winter when it is farther away.

Teachers frequently explain that seasons are actually caused by the tilt in the Earth’s axis without taking the time to assess and address this misconception. This leads students to adapt their current (incorrect) schema to include the new knowledge rather than replacing it, leading to the conclusion that summer occurs when the Earth is tilted closer to the sun and winter when it is tilted away from it. It is easy to imagine a student being able to answer a multiple-choice question “What causes the seasons?” with “Choice B: The tilt of the Earth’s axis,” while still maintaining that misconception.

An effective constructivist teacher would assess students’ understanding first, in order to identify their misconceptions. He or she could then not only fill in missing facts like “One hemisphere has summer while the other has winter” but use these facts to send students down a line of inquiry that allows them to construct a more accurate model for themselves.

For example, the teacher could show students—or, better yet, allow them to interact with—a model of the Earth and sun that clearly shows that the Earth is tilted in the same direction throughout, dispelling the idea that the entire Earth is closer or farther from the sun during any season. Finally, he or she could demonstrate the varying density of the sun’s rays at various angles (there’s a neat way to do this using a flashlight and Styrofoam ball).

Students could then demonstrate their conceptual understanding by recreating and narrating the model themselves and/or by reproducing, independently and in their own words, a verbal statement along the lines of: “Distance to the sun has almost nothing to do with the seasons. The tilt of the Earth’s axis causes the sun’s rays to hit one hemisphere and then the other at a more direct angle at different times of the year. This is why one hemisphere has summer while the other has winter.”

]]>http://www.knewton.com/blog/teacher-tools/constructivist-teaching-a-primer/feed/1GMAT Idiom Tips for Non-Native English Speakershttp://www.knewton.com/blog/test-prep/idiom-tips-for-non-native-english-speakers/
http://www.knewton.com/blog/test-prep/idiom-tips-for-non-native-english-speakers/#commentsTue, 01 Mar 2011 13:00:00 +0000http://www.knewton.com/blog/?p=12725Read more]]>You’ve probably heard that the grammar section of the GMAT features a lot of questions about “idioms.” If all you’ve heard about idioms is that they tend to be annoying, here’s a more formal definition:

The distinction between those two types of idioms is important. We get many reports of students who speak English as a second language spending countless hours memorizing the meaning of phrases like “throw the baby out with the bathwater” to prepare for this section. While knowing such idiomatic phrases will help increase your English language proficiency, it won’t do much for your GMAT score.

For native English speakers, one of the best strategies on idiom questions is to simply “trust your ear,” or “listen for what sounds right.” For non-native English speakers, of course, this advice isn’t very useful. Instead, the first thing you should do is memorize this list of commonly tested idioms.

Make sure you know all the constructions on this list:

However, memorization isn’t your only hope. If you’re faced with an idiom that you don’t instantly recognize, look for other grammar errors among the answer choices.

Let’s take a look at an example:

If idioms aren’t your strong suit, the first thing to do here is look for grammatical errors that have nothing to do with the idiom in question but will allow you to eliminate a few choices:

You’ve now narrowed the question down to only two choices without even thinking about the idiom at all.

Having only these two choices left also makes it a little bit clearer what the exact idiom issue is. As is often the case, the difference lies in the preposition: should it be “connection of” or “connection between”?

Hopefully, after some practice, you’ll have a sense that “connection between” makes a little more sense and just sounds better. If not, you still have a 50% chance of getting it right — much better than your odds before eliminating the other 3 answer choices!

]]>http://www.knewton.com/blog/test-prep/idiom-tips-for-non-native-english-speakers/feed/2Thinking about Thinking: How Metacognition Can Help Students Learnhttp://www.knewton.com/blog/student-resources/thinking-about-thinking-how-metacognition-can-help-students-learn/
http://www.knewton.com/blog/student-resources/thinking-about-thinking-how-metacognition-can-help-students-learn/#commentsSat, 22 Jan 2011 14:00:17 +0000http://www.knewton.com/blog/?p=11533Read more]]>In our latest research at Knewton into how students learn, we’ve found that one of the best ways to get students to think more deeply is to get them to engage in metacognition, i.e. thinking about thinking. All this thinking about thinking about thinking (meta-metacognition?) has led to a few conclusions that can be applied in any classroom.

1. Students learn better when they understand their strengths and weaknesses.

Studies show that high-performing students tend to have a very accurate understanding of their strengths and weaknesses as learners while low-performing students tend to greatly overestimate themselves. This may appear to be a chicken-and-the-egg type of correlation, but I’m not so sure. I believe that by helping low-performance students gain a more accurate picture of their strengths and weaknesses (gently; nobody needs a laundry list of everything they don’t know), we can help them to hone their studying on the subjects they really need work on, abandon practices that don’t work for them, and embrace ones that do.

To achieve this, we need assessments and feedback that focus on identifying specific areas of weakness rather than assigning scores; we need to ask questions that prompt students to reflect on their strategies, study habits, and thought processes (whatever they may be), rather than just providing statements that dictate what those strategies should be.

2. Following up closed-ended questions with metacognitive ones helps students — even if they got the first question right.

Metacognitive questions are not just for helping students who are struggling with questions to look back and figure out where they went wrong. They can also help cement already-learned concepts in students’ minds and help prevent moments of “Wait, I got that right — but I have no idea how or why.” By asking students to explain their answers to other students, real or imaginary, or to think about what finally helped them get it right this time (Was there something different about the question itself? Did they change their strategy? Did it just finally click after a certain number of repetitions?), we can help them walk away from a lesson confident that they have truly learned the concept they set out to learn.

3. The magic of metacognition comes from students learning about themselves, not teachers learning about them.

Asking students these types of open-ended metacognitive questions might seem like a good way for us as teachers and course developers to learn about them and change what wedo. It certainly can be, but this should not be the real purpose of metacognitive questioning. Studies conducted on students using computer-based learning systems such as ours found that students benefited greatly from being asked metacognitive questions even if nobody ever read their answers. In other words, we don’t necessarily want to ask questions that we’d like to know the answer to; we want to ask questions that will get students to think in ways that support their own learning.

These are the kinds of issues that we at Knewton spend hours, days, and weeks thinking about. This research is an ongoing process, but we’re already excited about the ways in which it’s shaping our approach to teaching, course design, and adaptive learning.

]]>http://www.knewton.com/blog/student-resources/thinking-about-thinking-how-metacognition-can-help-students-learn/feed/6GMATPrep Q&A: Choosing the Best Answer on SChttp://www.knewton.com/blog/test-prep/gmat-prep-sc-q-and-a/
http://www.knewton.com/blog/test-prep/gmat-prep-sc-q-and-a/#commentsFri, 24 Dec 2010 13:00:58 +0000http://www.knewton.com/blog/?p=10069Read more]]>This GMATPrep® Sentence Correction question was sent to us by a student who got stuck between two choices and couldn’t decide which was right. It is a perfect example of the fact that the GMAT asks you to choose the best version of the sentence from among the five choices given, not the best possible version. Let’s take a look:

Regarded by opponents as ineffective and meddlesome and by supporters as a conserver of life and energy, the fight over the speed limit continues in our legislatures and on our freeways.

(A) Regarded by opponents as ineffective and meddlesome and by supporters as a conserver of life and energy, the fight over the speed limit continues in our legislatures and on our freeways.
(B) Regarded by opponents as ineffective and meddlesome and by supporters as a conserver of life and energy, the speed limit continues to be fought over in our legislatures and on our freeways.
(C) Regarded by opponents as ineffective meddling and by supporters as the conservation of life and energy, the speed limit continues to be fought over
in our legislatures and on our freeways.
(D) The fight over the speed limit, regarded by opponents as ineffective and meddlesome and by supporters as a conserver of life and energy, continues in our legislatures and on our freeways.
(E) The fight over the speed limit, a measure regarded by opponents as ineffective and meddlesome and by supporters as a conserver of life and energy, continues in our legislatures and on our freeways.

The original sentence contains a misplaced modifier. Logically, it is not “the fight over the speed limit” that would be “regarded by opponents as ineffective and meddlesome and by supporters as a conserver of life and energy,” but the speed limit itself. With this in mind, we can immediately eliminate any choices in which the modifier beginning with “regarded” appears to modify “the fight over the speed limit” rather than “the speed limit”: choices A, D, and E. Do not be fooled by the fact that “speed limit” comes right before the modifier in choices D and E. It still appears as part of the phrase “the fight over the speed limit” and still creates a misplaced modifier.

Now we must look at choices B and C comparatively. Since both of them use the passive construction “the speed limit continues to be fought over,” neither one is perfect. However, choice C’s descriptions of the speed limit as “ineffective meddling” and “the conservation of life and energy” make it decidedly more wrong, so choice B is correct.

Is choice B perfect? Hardly. It’s a bit awkward, it puts the modifier in the beginning when it would be much clearer to put it in the middle, and it uses the passive voice. However, it is clearly the best of the five choices given.

]]>http://www.knewton.com/blog/test-prep/gmat-prep-sc-q-and-a/feed/2Common Wrong Answers on the GMAT: True, but Not the Right Answer!http://www.knewton.com/blog/test-prep/common-wrong-answers-on-the-gmat-true-but-not-the-right-answer/
http://www.knewton.com/blog/test-prep/common-wrong-answers-on-the-gmat-true-but-not-the-right-answer/#commentsMon, 22 Nov 2010 14:00:17 +0000http://www.knewton.com/blog/?p=9226Read more]]>There’s nothing more frustrating than preparing thoroughly for the GMAT critical reasoning section — poring over hundreds of complex arguments, wrapping your head around triple negations, learning to spot an assumption from a mile away — only to end up losing points for something as simple as not paying attention to the question stem.

Yet the shadowy figures behind the GMAT are bent on making sure you do just that, peppering assumption, strengthen, and weaken questions with answer choices that would be correct… if you were dealing with an inference question. Let’s take a look at an example:

In recent decades, the vast majority of construction companies have halted the use of asbestos for installation. During this same time period, word began to spread through various news media that long-term exposure to asbestos was causally linked to mesothelioma and other serious lung diseases. Therefore, the home building companies must have halted the use of asbestos in response to the new publicity given to its possible negative health consequences.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously calls into question the explanation above?

A: On average, fewer people are having homes built using asbestos insulation than in decades past.
B: People living in homes built with asbestos insulation may continue to experience health problems after the asbestos has been removed.
C: The use of asbestos insulation in industrial buildings has remained fairly constant, while its use in residences has sharply declined.
D: Sales of alternative insulation materials such as fiberglass have increased in recent decades.
E: Many alternative insulation materials that were previously prohibitively expensive have dropped considerably in price in recent decades.

If you dive right into answer choices after reading through the argument, Choice A might be really tempting. Since “the vast majority of construction companies” have stopped using asbestos, it is logically inferable from the argument that “on average” fewer people are using it in building their homes. In fact, Choice A would probably be the correct answer if this were an inference question — but it’s not!

In the Knewton course, A is a tricky answer choice that we mark with the label, “True according to the passage, but doesn’t answer the question.” The GMAT designers include it to tempt test-takers who might recognize the statement as logically true, but not notice that it doesn’t serve the purpose of weakening the argument. They even made it choice A to catch your eye, while burying the right answer further below!

The best way to avoid a “True but not correct” trap answer is to read the question stem first. This will let you know exactly what to look for as you read, whether it’s an assumption, a strengthener, a weakener, or an inference. Besides helping you avoid this particular wrong answer trap, it will also help you identify and ignore extraneous information as soon as you see it, leaving your mind less cluttered.

Now let’s go back and re-read the question stem above. The phrase “calls into question” tells you that your job is to weaken the argument.

When attempting to weaken an argument, it helps to identify the assumption it relies on and think of a way to deny it. A quick read through this argument should show you that it is a causal argument; it presents evidence that two facts are correlated (asbestos is recognized as dangerous, the use of asbestos declines) and then draws the conclusion that one fact must have caused the other (x causes y).

Whenever an argument says that x causes y, it makes the assumption that y does not cause x and that some unknown z does not cause y. In this case, it is assumed that awareness of the negative health consequences of asbestos (x) caused a decline in its usage (y). It doesn’t make much sense for y to cause x in this case, so you should look for an answer choice that says that some other factor (z) caused y. Choice E is correct.

So remember: Read the question stem first and know what you’re looking for. This way, trap answers won’t pop out at you as much just because they’re true according to the passage.

]]>http://www.knewton.com/blog/test-prep/common-wrong-answers-on-the-gmat-true-but-not-the-right-answer/feed/39 Ways to Save Time on the SAThttp://www.knewton.com/blog/test-prep/save-time-on-the-sat/
http://www.knewton.com/blog/test-prep/save-time-on-the-sat/#commentsTue, 16 Nov 2010 13:00:43 +0000http://www.knewton.com/blog/?p=8580Read more]]>Managing your time on the SAT can be a tricky task. Most sections of the test allow for less than a minute per question if you want to finish.

That said, with proper time management and knowledge of the test format, it is entirely possible to successfully complete every section on the SAT. There are, however, some important strategies to keep in mind along the way.

1. Don’t rush through sections.

With the exception of the reading comprehension section, questions on all the multiple choice sections increase in difficulty as they go, and there is no penalty for skipping a question. Therefore, it is not wise to rush through a section. You’ll likely make sloppy mistakes on easier questions you should have gotten right, all to allow yourself a couple of minutes to attempt questions that will be much harder to get right in any amount of time.

2. “Listen” for the error

On the Identifying Sentence Errors section, don’t examine the answer choices one by one. Instead, “listen” for the error and trust your instincts. The improving sentences/paragraphs sections are not quite as simple, as you must not only identify the error but select a correct version as well. You can, however, identify the error using the same method and use it to eliminate any answer choices that clearly don’t address it.

SC questions require test-takers to choose a word or pair of words that would logically complete a sentence. Keywords are clue words in the sentence that point you to the right answer; direction indicators tell you what relationship the right answer must have to the keywords. Look out for these words – they’ll allow you to eliminate at least a couple of options right off the bat.

4. Break your good habits in the Math section

On regular math tests, your teacher probably docks points if you don’t show all your work. But remember, this is the SAT: you don’t have to show all your work (though it might help to jot a few things down), you don’t need to copy down formulas and, with the exception of the grid-in section, you don’t even need to write out your final answer. If it seems faster, plug in numbers rather than solving the “right” way.

5. Make your calculator your best friend

Invest in a scientific calculator so factorials and exponents don’t require you to hit the multiplication button 10 times. Get a feel ahead of time for the combination of buttons needed for more complicated functions. Know when to use mental math instead of pencil and paper or a calculator.

6. Never read a Reading Comprehension passage twice

That’s just a waste of time! Before you start reading, glance at the questions to see which part(s) of the passage they focus on (they’ll generally provide you with line numbers) and read that part of the passage only before answering that question. Save the questions about the passage as a whole for last – by the time you get to them, you’ll know the passage well and won’t need to read again. With paired passages, always answer all the questions about the first passage before even looking at the second, and save the “compare and contrast” questions for last. Jotting down little notes about the main ideas of various paragraphs will also help ensure you don’t have to read the passage twice.

It might seem like a waste of time, but it’s actually a great time-saver. Just three well-focused minutes writing an outline can save you countless additional minutes halfway through a paragraph, puzzling over what to write.

While you will not know your SAT essay topic in advance, the prompts will inevitably touch upon one of a handful of broad themes (heroism, independent thought, facing adversity, and technology and progress are some of the most common). Keep a few examples in the back of your mind about which you know a fair amount and to whom a variety of different topics can apply (90% of essay topics can apply to people like Martin Luther King Jr. and Gandhi if you get just a little bit creative!).

9. Don’t stress out about the time!

Ironically, thinking too much about the passing time might be the biggest time waster of all. Yes, it’s good to be aware of when your time is running out so you can use your last few minutes wisely – but don’t let it preoccupy your mind. Instead, concentrate on figuring out the most efficient way to attack each problem type and stay focused on what you’re doing.

]]>http://www.knewton.com/blog/test-prep/save-time-on-the-sat/feed/0Tipping the Scales: Letters of Recommendationhttp://www.knewton.com/blog/test-prep/tipping-the-scales-letters-of-recommendation/
http://www.knewton.com/blog/test-prep/tipping-the-scales-letters-of-recommendation/#commentsMon, 15 Nov 2010 13:00:11 +0000http://www.knewton.com/blog/?p=8626Read more]]>If your grades or SAT scores are on the borderline of acceptability for your college of choice, sometimes a strong letter of recommendation is the best way to tip the scales in your favor. When I was deferred after applying early decision to Oberlin College, I ran around like a maniac getting everyone but my mailman to write me a recommendation, and ended up getting in the spring.

While I can’t be sure, I have a good idea of which recommendations ended up doing me the most good and why.

I believe that my most effective letter of recommendation came from my AP English teacher who, as the school’s only PhD, was affectionately known as “Doc.” While I didn’t read the letter, I have a good sense of what she would have said based on our conversations. I think that her letter was particularly effective for a couple of reasons.

She actually knew me outside the classroom. She knew that I wrote music and poetry, that I read extensively outside of class, and that I was frustrated with my high school environment for what she believed were legitimate reasons. A recommendation that says you’re bright and hardworking in the classroom will only get you so far; after all, schools already know your grades and have seen your application essay.

She told them things they didn’t know. Her letter of recommendation contained important things about me as a student, artist, and person. She helped convince them that the fact that my GPA was not as high as my SAT scores and essay suggested they should be (most likely the reason for my initial deferment), was due to an unsuitable school environment rather than laziness on my part.

She was familiar with my school of choice and thought I’d be a good fit there. Most letters of recommendations say something to the effect of, “Student X is bright and hardworking and deserves to go to a good school,” and could be mailed out to 10 different schools without making changes. My teacher, on the other hand, knew a lot about Oberlin’s history and reputation for progressive education, and believed the school environment would help me grow in ways my high school (or another college) could not.

To sum up, here’s what this experience taught me about obtaining an effective letter of recommendation:

Find someone who has something specific to say about you and who knows something about you that admissions officers can’t find out any other way. For example, they should already know the quantity of time you spend on a given extracurricular activity, but a good recommender can have something new to say about the quality of that time.

If a school accepts multiple recommendations, get letters that show you from different angles; this will emphasize that you’re a well-rounded person.

Find someone who is familiar with the school you’re applying to, thinks it’s a good fit, and has a good reason why that reflects positively on you.

]]>http://www.knewton.com/blog/test-prep/tipping-the-scales-letters-of-recommendation/feed/0A Teacher's View on Technology in Schoolshttp://www.knewton.com/blog/teacher-tools/will-richardson/
http://www.knewton.com/blog/teacher-tools/will-richardson/#commentsSun, 14 Nov 2010 13:00:53 +0000http://www.knewton.com/blog/?p=7953Read more]]>Recently, veteran teacher turned ed-tech expert and author of Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms Will Richardson gave an interview with Education Week about the growing role of technology in schools. The article stood out because it is (unfortunately) very rare to hear from someone with such intricate knowledge not only of technology, but also of the ways that technology can work to address the most pressing problems and needs in America’s schools today.

Perhaps most importantly, Richardson points out the monumental change in the kind of skills required for success in today’s society. Thanks to technology, a flood of information is constantly at our (and our children’s) fingertips. As a result, informational skills – knowing how to find, synthesize and apply relevant information – are becoming exponentially more important. At the same time, content knowledge – i.e. what each individual “knows” – is becoming increasingly less important compared to how well one is able to communicate and collaborate with others.

Technology is a primary cause of this changing reality, and, according to Richardson, teaching about and through technology is the only way to prepare students to deal with it in their everyday lives.

Richardson also notes that while students are generally quite savvy at the social uses of technology, they often have difficulty negotiating what the MacArthur Foundation’s study Learning with New Media calls its “interest-based” uses—those which connect users based on what they want to learn rather than their social connections.

This is an incredibly important distinction for teachers to understand for two reasons. First, it points out the limits of the idea that children are inherently more skilled in the use of technology than adults and therefore don’t have much to learn. In fact, the technological skills most kids have are easy for adults to acquire, and those that they don’t have, most educated adults do. Second, understanding this distinction shows teachers that that they have an opportunity to teach essential learning skills using a medium with which students are familiar – yet not so familiar as to make teachers extraneous – and which allows students to choose content that interests them.

Teachers can guide students through internet-research projects with their goal being not just to learn about their chosen topic but to learn how to determine relevant information, to think critically about sources and bias, to synthesize new knowledge with prior knowledge, and more, all in the hypertext environments with which students are already comfortable.

Simply using the internet as a new medium for teaching the same old content to be memorized and regurgitated – using YouTube videos instead of filmstrips or PowerPoint presentations from a laptop projector instead of slideshows from an overhead projector—misses the point entirely. The ways in which technology has transformed the way we live, learn, and work are not superficial, but completely transformational; the ways in which technology is implemented into education must be transformational as well.

Ideally, technology should push school culture away from obsession with “right” answers, away from the idea that collaboration is “cheating,” and away from the idea that everybody must constantly be learning the same content as everyone else in their age group at any given time. It should be skill-based, student-centered, and integrated seamlessly into every aspect of the curriculum, not limited to a “unit” or once-a-week “special.”

The fact that schools lag so far behind every other aspect of modern life in terms of the technology used and skill sets valued is simply unacceptable, and is indicative of the fact that we have not seriously thought about the overriding purpose of K-12 education in quite some time. If we believe that its purpose, or at least an important part of its purpose, is to prepare students for higher education and work in today’s digital world, we would be well-served to take Mr. Richardson’s recommendations to heart.